Fire, Aim, Ready! Settling the Land - שלח לך

In shul today (next week outside Israel) we read the story of the spies that were sent to scout out the land of Israel. Their negative report resulted in their entire generation losing out on the oppurtunity to settle the land that had been promised hundreds of years earlier.

Was the decision to send spies the right choice? It is important to do due deligence research and investigation before reaching makeing important decisions. The IDF major military successes could not have been achieved without accurate intelligence reports. On the other hand God had protected the Jewish people through the exit out of Egypt and wandering through the desert. He performed many miracles. For at least this generation should they not have trusted that if God said it was time to take the land it was time to take the land?

The question for those who hold that it was not the right decion is why didn't God tell Moshe that he was not allowed to send the spies. Up until this point whenever Moshe didn't know the answer he took his question to his Posek, who happened to be the creator of the entire world. He always had a black and white answer of the correct decision. This is the first time God turned to Moshe and said that you are the leader of the Jewish people, you make the choice.

Today our leaders have some very tough choices to make, that will have a far reaching impact on the Jewish people. There is no Siman in the Shulchan Oruch on how to make these decisions. Our leaders will have to take the lessons of the Torah and apply them as best they can to situation. Only time will tell if they made the correct decision.

Our Aliyah plans was best described as "Fire, Aim Ready!" We had told people two years before we left that we were planning to go. It was not until 5 weeks before we left that the decision was final and there was no turning back. We gave notice on our apartment before Nefesh B'Nefesh confirmed we were on a flight. 3 weeks before we left we decided on RBS as opposed to Haifa. We didn't have a pilot trip and our last trip to Israel was in 2000. We had never been to Bet Shemesh and I wasn't 100% sure where it was on the map.

We spent years contemplating the ifs, ands, or maybes. When the time came and we saw our window closing and made the leap. We didn't expect miracles but we were confident it was the right thing to do. It turned out to be the best decision we ever made. A year ago we could never have imagined how much our lives would improve.

Many people contemplate Aliyah. They spend there time sending out 'spies' contemplating if it is the right decion. They spend time making sure Aliyah is a perfect decision. In the end they listen to the negative reports from the media or cases of others where Aliyah was not the right decision. Just like the generation in the desert they miss their window of oppurtunity and never make it to Israel.

I firmly beleive that every Jew should at least discuss with their Rav if making Aliyah is the right decision for them. Failing to look at the deicison objectivly will result in the same mistake as the spies in the desert. A chance to live in the land promissed to the Jewish people thrown away on a few negative reports when the positive was right there if they were only willing to look.